I’m not a proper feminist, apparently. My failing became clear this week when a high-profile fellow commentator declared that if you want to limit abortion for any reason, you don’t believe in female bodily autonomy and you can no longer call yourself a women’s libber. Her comment came after MPs backed a bill that would make terminations due to sex alone illegal. I guess my well-thumbed copy of the Second Sex will have to go on eBay, then — because I’ll never stomach female feticide.
This “chucking people out of the club” mentality has always troubled me about feminism. Women are effectively excluded from enough clubs already; they shouldn’t be thrown out of the one designed to promote their interests. It also demands women live up to an almost impossible ideal — that of “the perfect feminist”. But being a feminist and opposing sex-selective abortion are hardly incompatible — it’s ammunition in a war on womanhood. This isn’t a “pro-life” argument; it’s about tackling extreme misogyny.
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A woman’s right to choose: this is a misnomer argument as a) the foetus is a completely separate entity; b) every woman (including the most ardent feminist) was herself a foetus; clearly this argument does not include the four million (and rising) female foetii (themselves potential women) terminated since this abhorrent practise was legalised in the UK 47 years ago. The lost generations: of potential female MPs, women bishops (if you believe in that), manageresses – need I go on?